Prime Minister Causes Stir Over Turkey’s Top Tipple

That’s the question many Turks are asking after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made another foray into the nation’s drinking habits late on Friday.

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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Speaking at the global alcohol policy symposium in Istanbul, the Prime Minister, a devout Muslim known for a distaste of alcohol, said Turkey’s national drink was Ayran, a salty yogurt drink made from Cow’s Milk.

That sparked the ire of many secular Turks who have long held that the nation’s top tipple is Raki, an alcoholic drink known as lion’s milk and favorite of modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Prime Minister Erdogan did not specifically mention Raki, but lamented how beer and other alcoholic drinks had been encouraged during the early days of the Republic when Ataturk’s administration reoriented Turkey towards the west after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

“In a single party government, alcohol promotion was turned into such an exaggerated propaganda that billboards were put up in the restaurants. It was said that alcohol is useful,” Mr. Erdogan was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Anadolu. “Moreover in the first years of Republic alcoholic drink beer was unfortunately introduced as a national drink in some books. However our national drink is ayran…Alcohol offers no benefits to a society,” he said.

The power of Mr. Erdogan, who has won three consecutive elections and is known to be eyeing a run for Turkey’s president, was illustrated by the market reaction to the speech. Shares in PinarSut Mamulleri, Turkey’s largest listed dairy producer, immediately jumped 3% higher on the comments. Shares in Turkey’s largest beer manufacturer Anadolu Efes were unmoved on the news but were 2% higher than the opening price.

Data from Turkey’s statistics agency suggests that Ayran has some distance to travel before taking the top prize. 2012 numbers shows that consuption of Ayran, a drink wildly popular in Turkish speaking countries but often maligned by foreigners for its salty taste, was 442,000 tonnes in 2012. Consumption of Beer in the Turkish market was 998,000 tonnes according to data from Turkey’s Alcohol Regulator.

News of the speech immediately generated a vigorous debate among Turks on social media, underscoring how the issue of alcohol remains emblematic of the polarization betweenTurkey’s observant Muslims and secular masses.

Mr. Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party has long promised an Islam-infused democracy and has sought to rehabilitate a conservative Ottoman legacy long-discredited for decades during an iron-fisted secular rule. Many secular-minded Turks think the ruling party is systematically undermining the founding principles of theTurkishRepublicin order to make the country more religious.

Friday’s intervention over alcohol is reminiscent over a thorny debate in February over news Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s fastest-growing carriers would change attendant’s uniforms and ban alcohol on an undetermined number of flights. That news brought allegations from commentators that the company was dramatically reorienting its culture as a result of political pressure fromTurkey’s islamist-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party. Turkish Airlines sought to quell criticism by stressing that it would only ban alcohol on domestic flights and on eight overseas routes to Islamic countries where the local carriers operated the same ‘dry’ policy.

For many Turks, debates which speak to the country’s divisions are flaring then fizzling, with increasing regularity.